Qatar: Series Superpole report

CORSER GRABS 41ST SUPERBIKE CAREER POLE IN QATAR
Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) powered to the 41st pole position of
his career in the opening round of the 2008 HANNspree Superbike World
Championship at the Losail International Circuit in...

CORSER GRABS 41ST SUPERBIKE CAREER POLE IN QATAR

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) powered to the 41st pole position of
his career in the opening round of the 2008 HANNspree Superbike World
Championship at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar but he had to
work hard to hold off the challenge of Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi, second
and third respectively. Corser's time of 1'58.053 was
four-tenths of a second quicker than the circuit's best lap, which
the 36-year-old Australian set for Yamaha last year. Xaus and Biaggi,
both on Ducati 1098 RS08 machines from the private Sterilgarda Go Eleven
squad, were heading for a sensational 1-2 before Corser put in his quick
lap. Alongside them on the grid for the two races tomorrow will be
Alstare Suzuki's young German rider Max Neukirchner.

"I really like this track and the Yamaha seems to work well round
here" declared Corser."Last year was a good result but now I
feel more relaxed and at ease with the team. I've got to thank all
the guys, they worked really hard in the tests which helped us a lot but
now I've got to keep my head down and be consistent. We actually
struggled a bit in the last free practice after making a few small
changes but we went back to we know what works well and hopefully now we
can go for the win tomorrow".

"The team is working very well, I was here testing and was really
focused on this race" said Xaus. "The bike worked perfect,
the team is incredible, Max Biaggi next to me has given me really more
motivation and also more focus so what can I say? Second and third and
front row for the team is fantastic!"

"I don't know if the factory is happy or not but we made an
amazing job to be second and third" said Biaggi. "We have a
kind of OK set-up for tomorrow, it all depends on the conditions. I more
or less made an endurance run for the tyre and I know what it is doing.
We will see tomorrow but it looks like it's going to be tough here
as always."

"Today was not so bad for us, I was not testing here unlike my
team-mates and I think we have now a good set-up" said Neukirchner.
"For one lap we are really fast but I think we must try and do a
good race to score some points tomorrow."

Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Team) will line up on the outside of the second row in
fifth place on another Ducati 1098 customer machine, a fraction ahead of
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB). Troy Bayliss could only manage
seventh on the factory Ducati Xerox 1098, ahead of Yukio Kagayama
(Alstare Suzuki) and Carlos Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda), taking part
in his first-ever Superpole, while Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) rounded
out the top 10.

Alfa Romeo Superpole Award

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) is the first winner in the ALFA 159
SUPERPOLE AWARD contest, which has been launched at this weekend's
opening round in Qatar. The prize, an Alfa Romeo 159 3.2 Sportwagon Ti,
will be awarded at the end of the season to the rider in the Superbike
World Championship who has totaled the highest number of Superpoles.